The impact of a large episodic disturbance on an invasive (outbreak) coral: Will Typhoon Maysak promote or suppress an invasive Montipora sp. Coral on reefs of Ulithi, Micronesia

密克罗尼西亚联邦的乌利西环礁是世界第四大环礁，二战期间是美国海军第三舰队的重要集结地。环礁包含动态的珊瑚礁，以及依赖它们的社区。乌利西遭受了一些人为和自然的干扰，包括1960年袭击的台风奥菲利亚。当地渔民认为，这一事件开始了一个“杂草”入侵珊瑚覆盖珊瑚礁的入侵过程，并消除了鱼类和章鱼的重要栖息地，可能威胁到这些生态系统。 四年前，当地人邀请调查人员到乌利西研究珊瑚礁，共同努力提高渔业和珊瑚礁的健康。 研究人员对入侵的珊瑚DNA进行了测序，并将其鉴定为Montipora的一个新物种。 然而，它的入侵动力仍然是一个谜。2015年4月初，乌利西再次受到一场重大干扰：超级台风迈萨克。台风摧毁了岛上的大部分建筑物，并移走了从海岸可见的大部分珊瑚。利用他们过去四年的基线数据，研究人员沿着一组学生，试图绘制台风对入侵的Montipora的影响。 通过基因组测序，他们希望更好地了解台风Maysak对这种入侵珊瑚的建立和扩散的作用。该项目提供了一个独特的机会来研究罕见事件和入侵过程的影响，并广泛传播研究结果，提高人们对珊瑚礁，气候变化和独特的人类-自然耦合系统的认识。 他们的经验将在社交媒体和项目网站onepeopleonereef.ucsc.edu上以及通过NSF提供。超级台风Maysak于2015年3月31日袭击了Ulithi Atoll，在过去的至少50年里，Montipora的入侵/爆发物种影响了浅水珊瑚礁。研究人员提出的研究将阐明这种罕见但影响巨大的事件对生物入侵的影响，使用基因组学和珊瑚礁采样来调查台风前由Montipora主导的西太平洋珊瑚礁，以及Montipora不存在或密度较低的“原始”珊瑚礁。 研究人员将把这些发现与过去四年从这些网站收集的现有数据联系起来。这些研究将促进我们对珊瑚礁系统中生物入侵的理解，探索珊瑚物种作为爆发生物体的不寻常发生，并有助于我们了解影响力如何高，偶发性干扰-随着全球气候变化的推进可能会增加频率-可能会影响世界各地受威胁的珊瑚礁生态系统。

Ulithi Atoll, in the Federated States of Micronesia, is the fourth largest Atoll in the world, and was an important staging area for the US Navy 3rd fleet during WWII. The Atoll contains dynamic coral reefs, and communities of people that depend on them. Ulithi has been subjected to a number of human and natural disturbances, including Typhoon Ophelia that hit in 1960. Local fishermen believe that this event started an invasion process by a 'weedy' invasive coral that covers reefs, and removes essential habitat for fish and octopus, potentially threatening these ecosystems. Four years ago, local people invited the investigators to Ulithi to study the reefs and work together to enhance fisheries and reef health. The investigators sequenced the invading coral DNA and identified it as a new species of Montipora. However, its invasion dynamics remain a mystery. In early April 2015, Ulithi was hit again by a major disturbance: super Typhoon Maysak. The Typhoon destroyed most structures on the island, and removed much of the coral formations visible from shore. Using their baseline data of the past four years, the investigators, along with a team of students, seek to map the effect of the Typhoon on the invasive Montipora. Using genomic sequencing, they hope to better understand the role of Typhoon Maysak on the establishment and dispersal of this invasive coral. This project provides a unique opportunity to study the effects of a rare event, and invasion processes, and to broadly disseminate findings, raising awareness about coral reefs, climate change, and unique human-natural coupled systems. Their experiences will be made available on social media and the project website onepeopleonereef.ucsc.edu, as well as through NSF.Super typhoon Maysak struck Ulithi Atoll on March 31, 2015, where an invasive/outbreak species of Montipora has affected shallow coral reefs over at least the last 50 years. The research the investigators propose will elucidate the effects of this rare but high impact event on a biological invasion using genomics and reef sampling to investigate Micronesian reefs that were dominated by Montipora before the typhoon, and more 'pristine' reefs where Montipora was absent or in low densities. The investigators will be relating these findings to existing data that were collected from these sites over the past four years. These studies will advance our understanding of biological invasions in coral reef systems, explore the unusual occurrence of a coral species as an outbreak organism, and contribute to our knowledge of how high impact, episodic disturbances - likely to increase in frequency with the advance of global climate change - may affect threated coral reef ecosystems world-wide.